Chambersburg aims to be 'sustainable' community

CHAMBERSBURG - Chambersburg is going for the gold in its quest to seek recognition from the Pennsylvania Municipal League as one of the state's sustainable communities.

Gold is the next to the highest designation a community can get in the quest for certification as a sustainable community, and Carla Johns, the Shippensburg University intern who will be working with borough officials on the large number of steps that must be taken to get that certification, thinks the borough is in a favorable position to reach that goal.

Johns gave an initial report to borough council about the project last week, citing a number of things going on in the borough that enhances the municipality's chances of getting the high-level designation. She will be working with Borough Planner Phil Wolgemuth and other borough staff over the next few months to help gather information that will enhance the borough's chances of being designated a sustainable community.

She said although the most basic definition of sustainability is the ability for a community to maintain and sustain itself, it is also a complex system involving ideas, people, development, environmental issues and more.

"Balancing the economic, environmental and social needs of the community, meeting those needs and respecting the needs of other local communities are the values that embody sustainable development," she said. "That's something you guys are really good at."

Johns said the criteria for being designated a sustainable community is high, Chambersburg is already in a good place to reach that designation, in part because of several new initiatives undertaken over the last two years which manages resources and solves problems on not just a borough-wide scale, but at times including the Greater Chambersburg community.

One example is the borough's Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) utility, one of the first such municipal utilities in the state. The system is now in its second year of operation and the borough is working this year to draw its surrounding townships into the system, something Stonehill said in his annual report last December would be more economical and efficient than having multiple different storm water management systems for different municipalities

In his end-of-the-year plan, Stonehill also proposed expanding other municipal services to neighboring townships, and said the borough will continue to work to provide a safe, clean, green and healthy community for its residents.

Johns said other positive recent moves include updating the borough's downtown vision and downtown master plan, undertaking a separate downtown re-development plan, implementing a camera and security project to help the police department, recently completing a record number of street resurfacing projects and putting together a pedestrian and bicycle plan that will make it safer for cyclists to navigate the downtown area.

Those and other projects that address public health issues, the natural environment and economic development will help it meet the criteria for a sustainable community, she said.

"This puts the borough in a favorable position to reach towards a Sustainable Pennsylvania Community Certification achievement," she said.

The project is a partnership between Chambersburg and SU's Center for Land Use and Sustainability.